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10.30.2003

Trying To Make Games More Homosexual?
I would like to address this letter to all of the game developers who agreed with Randy Littlejohn's article, "Agitating For Dramatic Change", or found it to be interesting in a positive way.

I simply do not have the ability to describe how infuriated I was after reading this cunning three-page essay on how to make videogames more homosexual. This is the videogames industry, not the drama club in college. Obviously Littlejohn has no understanding of this, and I am certain that he does not even play games. This is a man who entered our field as an outsider, and now he is proclaiming that we need to change things. This is absolutely the most offending and theoretical look at what the game industry is not - and should not become - that I have ever read. I will absolutely not humor the opinions and the insights of a person who has never done anything of any value to me as a gamer, or a game developer. Randy's views are drawn out and heavily based on his necessity to return to his drama roots.

I say again, games are not something to be looked at as new forms of socializing, or interacting with drama. They are games, not plays, not movies, not TV shows, and not even a virtual replacement of our reality. They are simply a method to exert our natural tendencies to be hunters, and to enjoy being challenged.

-Benjamin Krotin

Author Randy Littlejohn responds:
I hardly know where to begin. Actually, my game industry career spans about ten years, and most of that time has been devoted to design and writing. I have no problem with computer games. I like computer games and I play them.

What I'm saying is that there's room in the computer-based interactive realm for other kinds of entertainment, which are based on good story and character development. There is no reason to be "either/or". We can have both.

I find it interesting that you associate what you think drama is with homosexuality. But I have a feeling that it wouldn't do any good to try and respond to your implication.